The importance of the Sign of the Cross must not be lost

St Francis de Sales wrote with clarity about the extraordinary power of an apparently basic gesture

I have been reading a small book, The Sign of the Cross, by St Francis de Sales, published by the American publishing company, Sophia Institute Press. Written in 1600 it was a response by the saint, who became Bishop of Geneva in 1602, to the leading Geneva Calvinist theologians who had rejected what they saw as a Catholic gesture. According to the foreword of the book, crucifixes and bare crosses are still today largely absent in American Evangelical churches “and the act of making the Sign of the Cross is regarded by many non-Catholics as superstition at best.”

I hadn’t known this; I always assumed that this most basic gesture was a universal Christian act, understood by all Christians for what it is: a graphic reminder of Christ’s sacrifice. In his defence of it, de Sales lays out with authority and clarity all the reasons for its importance. As he puts it, “These are the arguments that my adversary has made and now I shall oppose them.” He does not go in for the kind of false ecumenism so popular in the post-conciliar 1970s and 1980s where Catholics would water down their faith in meetings with other Christians so as not to give offence or to appear divisive. For de Sales, his book is more than a defence of the Sign of the Cross; it is an act of charity to men who have gone astray in their beliefs: “My dear adversary,” he writes, “If you have not yet been healed from having written your treatise…” For him, his slim book, the third in a series of four that he wrote on this subject, was part of his apostolate to bring the Calvinists, who had largely overrun Geneva, back to the true Faith.

As he points out, the Cross is a “folly to the pagans”. It also represents the Passion of Christ and by it “we confess the Trinity.” He reminds his readers that it is used in blessings, consecrations and sacraments, as well as “to chase off demons” and as a protection from them. As de Sales writes, “The demons flee from the Cross as though it were a living representation of the Crucifixion.”

St Francis also reminds us that the early Christians used the Sign of the Cross as “a public profession of their Christianity or as a confession of it either in public or in private. For when the persecutions were widespread and severe, the Christians…recognised one another by this sign when they crossed themselves.” In my last blog I happened to mention Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka, the only nun to be condemned to death in Nazi Germany: a modern-day example of persecution of people of faith – Christians as well as Jews. She had refused to take down the crucifixes she had placed on the walls of the hospital in which she worked. She knew that in if she did so it would be a betrayal of everything she believed and stood for.

Blessed Restituta understood the power and significance of the Sign of the Cross. Indeed, before her execution she asked the prison chaplain to make the Sign of the Cross on her forehead. At her beatification on June 21, 1998, St John Paul II stated, “Many things can be taken from us Christians but the Cross as a sign of salvation will not be taken from us…”

The biographical note to the little book by St Francis de Sales informs us that his apostolate was highly successful, but at the cost of much sacrifice. In trying to bring the inhabitants of the Chablais back to the Faith from Calvinism, he was sometimes “thrown out of his lodgings and has to sleep in the open air. Many times he celebrated Mass in empty churches or continued preaching when the congregation walked out…” Empty churches? Catholics offended at being corrected for their liberal attitudes? There is a familiar ring to this; we need more bishops like the Bishop of Geneva in our country today.

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Comments

Comment Policy

At The Catholic Herald we want our articles to provoke spirited and lively debate. We also want to ensure the discussions hosted on our website are carried out in civil terms.

All commenters are therefore politely asked to ensure that their posts respond directly to points raised in the particular article or by fellow contributors, and that all responses are respectful.

Hans Coessens

Very good. This is why we should always make the sign of the Cross when walking or passing by a Catholic Church remembering that Our Lord is substantially present there and that we ask Him to protect us and bless us.

la catholic state

We could also make the Sign of the Cross in public at 12 noon, even if we cannot say a full Angelus because of work.

Charlie Angel

Thank you for this timely reminder of the power of simple gestures such as the sign of the cross and genuflection etc.

And it definitely resonates with my own very personal experience in that I always insist that my eventual conversion to Catholicism was thanks to one moment of grace that planted a small seed which then took years to sprout….

I was 15 and on a school trip to France where we were visiting a local church. The teacher that was taking us around was one of my heroes at school – Mr Ricketts…a rather unfortunate name but a wonderful man and someone I respected deeply. And I can still see him now, as he walked before the altar and quite naturally genuflected and made the sign of the cross.

Here was a man that I looked up to, regarded as one of my inspirational heroes, someone who was immensely important to me as a young adult….and he was showing respect and love for something higher than him. It’s hard to explain but it stopped me in my teenage tracks and the image left with me a lingering feeling that I had witnessed something very important and indeed mystical that day in the church.

It wasn’t long after that trip that Mr R died suddenly. He collapsed during a lesson on a day when I was off school and died of a heart attack. I was devastated when I heard the news and I can feel tears welling up even now when I think of how upset I was.
But at least I can look back and see the legacy of that small gesture and the gift that he gave me….without of course him even knowing it!

And that is the important point that you remind us of here Francis. That sometimes we will never know the power that lies within such seemingly simple gestures and the myriad ways that they can affect those around us. Ways only known to God.

So thank you for that. And thank you Mr Ricketts! I am glad that I had this chance to write about that day nearly 30 years ago.

Rest in Peace Mr R and Thanks be to God!

Liturgically Abused

If, as we all believe, the sign of the cross is that powerful, why did Paul VI ditch it in his invented mass? (I am thinking of the sign made before and after the homily, during the creed, etc.)

Father Thomas

“the only nun to be condemned to death in Nazi Germany”???? What of St. Edith Stein?

Dorotheus

Maybe because more may be less. External gestures frequently repeated can easily become routine and stay at the external level. The renewed and restored version of the Mass authorised by Pope Paul (he hardly invented it!) recognises this and so does not ditch anything, but prescribes fewer gestures. This enables us to make them more thoughtfully and meaningfully – surely a good thing? Signs in themselves of course have no power – it is what they signify that matters.

firstparepidemos

Nice response. Thank you.

firstparepidemos

Interesting thought about making the Sign of the Cross. Thank you. Happily, I am usually able to quietly say the Angelus where I work, and find that closing my eyes for those 2 minutes or so to be a real blessing.

http://www.beachlaw.org/ Kevin Beach

I don’t think she was sentenced to death. Didn’t she die of disease in a concentration camp? I know that one argue about the chain of causation leading to her death, but as I understand it Francis Phillips is referring to somebody who was deliberately killed for refusing to do something that was contrary to her faith.

peregrinus

St Edith Stein was just plain murdered in the camps, whereas Bl M Kafka did get a trial. It was a show trial in a kangaroo court, murder by another name, but technically she was tried, sentenced and beheaded rather than rounded up and gassed. Edith Stein never got a trial and so could not be sentenced. Technically Francis Phillips is correct.

Guest

There were, and are, an extra-ordinary number of blessings with the sign of the Cross in the Roman Missal approved for use by St John XXIII – in line with Eastern usage. The modernising trend was to simplify, minimise and exclude .. as with any concrete bunker or glass smeared high-rise or public building in that taste .. and the Fathers of the Council had asked for a return to a less rubric-cluttered liturgy – turn to page 1032 for the Mass of (x), prayers of page 1215 to be used, with the sequence of Mass (y) p 993, and Gospel of (z) p 1330; asperges, incense, final gospel, prayers at the end of Mass, ringing of bells omitted, unless following the newly approved Trappist usage of the revised Dominican Form, then only three public signs of the Cross are used, Beginning of Mass, at the Gospel, and the Dismissal (priestly blessing with the Sign as per local Ritual); kneeling during the Creed, at communion, and before the Tabernacle if fitting current local custom.

Not really, of course, but you get the idea. After all, many priests found it tedious to do all that preparation – like reading the Breviary in Latin – when they could be out leading rebellion against (whatsoever caught their passing attention) .. yes, truly. They wanted more variety, with greater choice, and personal freedom ad libitum; this concoction was duly invented, provided and re-interpreted.

The Mass approved by Venerable Paul VI was, as it is still, all too often taken to be only a template for the presiding liturgy leader’s artistic creation under the concepts of ‘being’, ‘involving’, ‘participating’, ‘sharing’, ‘receiving’ among the assembled audience .. erm .. people. Even popes have been known to drift into this As-It-So-Pleases-Me routine, completely in disregard for the rubrics of the Holy Mass (in Latin, Greek and Aramaic) as approved by their venerable predecessor, and binding on them even now. That it ought to be, and look like, a generously extended yet slightly simpler version of Low Mass in John XXIII’s Missal was swiftly smothered.

Miracles are also signs, D, these do have power in themselves not merely because they signify something else .. e.g. a more powerful agent. You would not like to limit such wondrous signs, simply because less can feel like more, of that I am certain. Yet you are correct in assessing the motivation in desiring a slightly less cluttered liturgy, saintly calendar, and church fabric; not that there may be ‘less’ but that more might be clearly seen, sensed, and shared.

Sadly, that is not how the Roman Missal approved by Ven Paul VI came to be used .. even before the ink was dried on his approval; and only now is its innate beauty being allowed to show forth; that is, as a simpler yet augmented version of St John XXIII’s approved Low Mass, with asperges, music and incense.

It is also apparent at Mass that fewer also leads to… less: less reverence; less respect; less awareness of the sacred. Making the sign of the cross before and after the homily is a visible reminder that ministers and people speak/listen In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Similarly, solemn genuflection/profound bow in the Holy Presence properly reinforce what should be our orientation at Mass: towards/about God rather than towards/about ourselves.

In archive footage before 1970, one notices how the faithful crossed themselves: reverent, unhurried, head slightly bowed and/or with eyes downcast. Today’s practice seems casual and less meaningful by comparison, as is also the case regarding genuflection and bowing.

fjacks

The sign of the cross was being abused in the middle ages by people who knew little or nothing about the meaning of the cross or of the trinity. It is still subject to abuse by athletes and others who think of it as some kind of talisman. That it has been and can be abused does not detract from the arguments made by Francis de Sales. Care should be taken to teach people about its significance so that they are less likely to misuse it. A common questionable use of the sign of the cross is when Catholics bless themselves with Holy Water on the way out of church following Mass. We do this on the way into the church as a reminder that baptism made us members of a priestly people empowered to offer an acceptable sacrifice to God. I don’t know what taking it on the way out would mean.

kentgeordie

I used to share this view, the logic being that we cleanse ourselves before approaching the Lord rather than after.
Then I read that St John Bosco recommended blessing ourselves with holy water on exit as well as entry, and that is good enough for me.

Martin

In a world that wishes to silence all mention of Jesus from our mouths, the sign of the cross is the entire gospel from the heart in 4 moves of the hand.

And I have not yet met a single person who does not understand the message it speaks regardless of faith, or none.

That Jesus is alive!

Martin

Maybe on the way in it represents our tears of repentance and thanks giving approaching the cross but on the way out it signifies the Lords tears for the lost that we carry out to them on his behalf? Just a thought but possibly not far from the truth.

More Tea Vicar?

Having read some of the posts on here, I was drawn to one which says that sportsmen bless themselves before they go on the pitch or the track as a sort of talisman – that’s as maybe but it cannot be denied that there were more public gestures of Christian faith displayed at the London 2012 Olympic Games than I’d see with Catholics at Mass!
Popes acknowledge the connection between sport and faith. Sport can also be dangerous – are we so cynical to think that athletes bless themselves as a way to make a bargain with God to win … or perhaps it’s a quick prayer to ask God to keep them safe from accidents that can – and often do – happen:
Cases in point – the football player from Bolton Wanderers who had a heart attack on the pitch (remember that?) a few years ago? An over enthusiastic player on the pitch who makes a flying tackle and breaks the leg… I could go on.
Remember the Gold Medal winner from Ethiopia who took a piece of cloth from inside her running vest which displayed a beautiful icon of Our Lady and the Child Jesus? Other athletes making Signs of the Cross (either in the Orthodox or Western way)?
Expect more of the same at the World Cup in Brazil!
Saint Benedict of Nursia made the Sign of the Cross over a cup of wine that was given to him by jealous monks – the cup broke into pieces. This is symbolised by the cup with the snake on the obverse of the powerful Saint Benedict Medal.
Did you know that one of the popes (Saint Pius X, I think) attached a generous indulgence to Catholics who, when passing a Catholic Church, makes a sign of the cross with devotion? Indulgence or not, it is a way of acknowledging the Real Presence in the tabernacle. On one particular journey I make, whether it is on public transport or in a car, the route has at least 4 Catholic Churches …
So what if I get dirty looks for making several Signs of the Cross? I’m not doing it for them! I’m saying hello to Christ!
Does anyone on here make the Sign of the Cross whenever a hearse passed you by on the road or when you hear that someone has died?
Please bear in mind that the attempts to silence all mention of Jesus is a snide and sneaky sign of the diabolical – nothing to do with ”offending” anybody. Don’t be fooled.
Make the Sign of the Cross OFTEN!

A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who “devoutly sign themselves with the sign of the cross, using the customary words: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen”
#28 2, 2, “Manual of Indulgences , Norms and Grants” (updated 1999)
(Other conditions must be met as explained in the book.)

Indulgences can be obtained for oneself or a deceased person.

Bac

Just a partial indulgence eh! You see I don’t think I want a God who tots up things like that – I’m happy with God accepting whatever we do that is good and blessing us for that regardless of whether we have fulfilled some criteria to tick off boxes man-made for dubious reasons years ago ….when £££ was involved as well.

MIKE

You (nor I, nor anyone else) gets to choose what God wants and does not want per your statement: “I don’t think I want a God who…”.
That is the epitome of pride, ignorance and arrogance.

If you are not Catholic, no one is asking you to believe what we do.
You are a guest on a Catholic web site, so expect to see Catholic information.

More Tea Vicar?

Thanks for that, MIKE!

More Tea Vicar?

I bet you enjoyed getting gold stars on your school work, though! Or that you were treated to something nice for doing a favour for family, friend and neighbour.
Isn’t it all to do with incentive? To do well and do good by God and your fellow man?
And it has NOTHING to do with cash-for-indulgences. That ship has sailed along with Martin Luther…
… or have you just come out of the TARDIS?

DMCI

No he isn’t.DMCI

Bac

I agree with you totally about doing well and doing good by God and my fellow man, I don’t question that at all. I do get concerned when criteria such as you have to visit so many churches in a given time frame and say specific prayers in order to gain an indulgence. That excludes people who cannot fulfil the criteria – and then as I have witnessed some get upset because for whatever reason they couldn’t complete the tasks and thought they had failed or at least failed to gain the benefit they wanted for themselves or another. The system can lead to people thinking they haven’t done well, have failed God in some way. Rather that all things that we do for good stand alone rather than counting up to a certain number in certain places. My thoughts……..

Bac

You are right in the sense I perhaps chose words poorly but I stand by my personal thoughts. Jesus stated how he hated the way of the Pharisees and their laws and their strict adherence to the laws and to me indulgences are in that mould – unless you meet the conditions you refer to in the manual of indulgences you will not gain the said indulgence. We created these, we decided that God would grant this or that if we fulfilled the instructions – is that not choosing what God does or doesn’t want? Let good works, good practices, good behaviour be what they are – I’m happy that God will decide what and how He will deal with them.

Bac

Do you know what is in athletes’ minds when they make the sign of the cross then? I certainly don’t and I see it as heartening that they make that sign and I’m sure it has led to many asking what it is and initiating a conversation about God/Christ. Who knows what good that might bring.
As for making the sign of the Cross on the way out of church – I was taught it was to say I leave here and everything I do outside of church I will strive to do In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

MIKE

The conditions include repentance of sins; as required by Jesus.
Do you know what the conditions are? If not, please check it out.

“We” did not create anything. “We” are not the Pope, or the Magisterium of the Church.
Please see Bible where Jesus gave authority of binding and loosing – not to ‘us individuals’ but to His Church through Peter who handed down apostolic authority starting in Acts.
Please read: Mt 16:16-19; and in Mt 18:18.
I’m not going to second guess Jesus.

CCC: ” 1478 An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins.
Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.”

CCC: ” 1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance. What is an indulgence?
“An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”
“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.”

If all that helps you to be closer to God then it is of course good. I happen to think differently and would not criticise you. You judge me with words – arrogance, pride and ignorance. Harsh surely and not the best way for discussion and debate.

kentgeordie

Does it not bother you that you are setting a private opinion against all the Scripture, tradition, experience, witness of 2000 years of Church history?

Bac

Not being happy about indulgences doesn’t set me against scripture nor 2000 years of history. They came into being later than that. Jesus wasn’t happy with the Pharisees approach to minutia of things and it strikes me that indulgences can wander into that area if we’re not careful. Tradition they certainly are.

kentgeordie

Dissenting from Church teaching sets you against the Church, does it not? While indulgences, like any other good thing, can be misused, the real issue you are raising is individualism.

MIKE

Bac if you are not Catholic, you have every right to think whatever you want.

There is NO DEBATE for those who choose to be Catholic.
So it will do you no good to try to debate anything. However, if you want more info, someone will be glad to help you.
We believe in Purgatory – which is a dogma of the Catholic Church and Catholics who deny it cannot call themselves Catholics without being a heretic or schismatic.

If you are Catholic you (we) must adhere to the CCC in entirety which was promulgated by Apostolic Authority and contains the Doctrine of the Faith.